Misunderstood
by willow-writer
Summary: Neville is teaching at Hogwarts and thought the days of being bullied by Malfoy were far behind him. But what happens when Scorpius is in his class? Will he be able to put his hatred for the Malfoys aside and treat the boy fairly?


Disclaimer: J K Rowling owns the world and the characters, but you already knew that. ;) This story was originally published on another account I shared with someone, but this is now the only place you'll fine it.

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 **Misunderstood**

"Good morning first years," Neville greeted his class. "And welcome to Herbology. For those of you who don't know, in this class we will be learning about magical plants and their properties."

He looked around at the students gathered in front of him, standing outside Greenhouse One. He could have sworn last years' lot weren't as small. He certainly couldn't remember being this small in his first year. Half this group didn't even look like they would be able to see over the benches without a stool to stand on.

And he was right: as the students walked inside and took their places along either side of the benches, a few of them did indeed need a little boost to be at a good working height.

Neville set the class to work harvesting seeds from singing sunflowers and walked around to see how they were all doing. As he reached the end of the first bench, one of the students whispered to him, "Mum sends her love, _Professor_."

"Thank you, Albus. And good morning Rose," he said as he saw Rose Weasley standing next to her cousin.

"She told James to say hi to you, but, well, you know James. He thinks he is too cool to show that he knows a professor!" Albus rolled his eyes. He obviously didn't agree with his brother.

Neville chuckled. His friend's oldest son was a bit of a handful sometimes. Neville had even had to write to Harry and Ginny about James' behaviour a few times.

Seeing a hand in the air, Neville asked Albus to pass on his own greeting to Ginny, and then walked along the benches to help the other student. When Neville came closer he realised who it was: Scorpius Malfoy. Neville had forgotten Draco's son would be at Hogwarts this year. That was, until he had received his class list and seen that dreaded surname. He had truly wished he would be able to put aside all his old prejudices and treat the boy just like any other student; the last thing Neville wanted to do was turn into Snape, playing favourites and making the lives of select students miserable. However, seeing the boy, Neville realised how hard that goal would be to keep: Scorpius looked exactly like Draco had at his age.

All the old memories came flooding back. Neville remembered the time Malfoy had stolen his rememberall back in their first year; how many times he had been jinxed by the blonde Slytherin; when Draco had been made prefect and then member of the Inquisitorial Squad and had made it his mission to make Neville's life hell.

Remembering this, a cold hatred boiled up inside him, and Neville found himself already despising the boy who looked so much like his father: with the same silver eyes and white blonde hair…

"Err, Sir?"

Neville was pulled out of his thoughts by the small voice. Scorpius was looking at him quizzically. Neville cleared his throat.

"Yes? What is your question, Mr Malfoy?" he said, and it came out sharper than he had intended.

"Sorry, Sir," Scorpius said, looking a bit worried, "but I can't get the seeds out of my sunflower."

"Did you not listen to my instructions and watch my demonstration?" Neville asked, already prepared to deduct house points from the young Malfoy for not paying attention.

"I did, Sir! And I'm doing what you said. But my plant won't give up the seeds. Ethan tired as well," Scorpius said, pointing to the boy next to him, "and he can't get them out either."

Neville considered the plant in front of Scorpius. After a moment he told Scorpius to move over and he attempted to remove the seeds himself. It took Neville a few minutes, but eventually he pried some free, only to have several seeds fly up and hit him in the face. Hearing a small laugh, Neville turned around to find Ethan and Scorpius trying to stifle their laughter.

"Ten points from Slytherin!" he said loudly. "When a teacher helps you with something, you would do well to show them some respect!"

This shut the two boys up immediately. It also, however, gained the attention of the entire class, who were now looking over to see what all the fuss was about and to gawk at the bruise now forming under their Professor's right eye.

"There's nothing to see over here," Neville told everyone angrily. "Get back to your work. And when you have finished removing all the seeds, you can get started on your homework: ten inches on the properties of singing sunflower seeds and the correct method of removing them."

By the end of the lesson, Neville found himself thanking Gryffindor that it was the end of the day and he could go home to Hannah and the Leaky Cauldron. He had not meant to set homework on the first day. He had wanted to give the first years an enjoyable first lesson. He had wanted to be the cool teacher the older students loved. It was all Scorpius' fault, he thought, as he packed up his things and headed for his office and the secret passage it held which transported him to the Leaky Cauldron in a matter of minutes.

When Neville had started teaching at Hogwarts and had been assigned his office, he was as surprised as anyone to find a secret passage leading from it to the Leaky Cauldron, especially because it cut the travelling time from Hogwarts to London to almost nothing without the use of apparition or floo powder. He had consulted Harry, who had double and triple checked the Marauder's Map, to find that no such passage had existed before, or at least, not that anyone knew about. Neville suspected, although he didn't tell anyone but Hannah, that the passage had appeared using the same sort of magic that had allowed such a passage to connect the Hogs Head pub with the Room of Requirement during the war. Neville guessed that Hogwarts didn't just have one Room of Requirement, but was actually more like a Castle of Requirement.

Neville emerged from behind a portrait just as Hannah was setting the table for dinner.

"How was your first day back?" she asked him, with a light kiss.

"Terrible," Neville replied. "Scorpius Malfoy is in my first year class."

Hannah's face creased as she realised the effect this would have on her husband. "Oh Neville," she said as she hugged him, "I'm sure it won't be as bad as you think."

"Oh, yes, it will. It already is!" And he explained what had happened during that lesson.

Hannah laughed.

Neville frowned at her.

"Oh, come on, Neville. Give him a chance. Don't make up your mind about him from one incident. Anyone would have laughed. Even I did! You can't blame him. He's only young."

Neville sighed and was silent for a moment as he went to sit on the couch. "You haven't seen him, Hannah. He looks so much like Draco. I don't know if I can be fair towards him after everything that git did to me."

Hannah knelt down in front of Neville and took his hands in hers. "Just give him a chance. Get to know him. We all thought Snape was horrible and look how wrong we were."

"No, we were right," Neville corrected her. "He _was_ horrible. He just wasn't evil. There is a difference."

Hannah thought about that for a moment, thinking back to her school days. "Yes, I guess you're right. Then think of it like that: there is a difference between Draco and his son. And remember, Scorpius is only half a Malfoy. I've met his mother and she seems quite decent. Give him a chance. You might even find you like the boy."

Neville looked at her doubtfully, but said nothing.

The following evening Neville was sitting in his lounge above the pub, reading the Evening Prophet, what he heard a _tap tap tap_ on the window.

"I'll get it," he called out to Hannah, who was in the next room.

Neville went over to the window and let in the tawny owl. Once inside, the owl stuck out its leg and flew off as soon as Neville had removed the letter. It was addressed to him in a handwriting he did not recognise.

Going back over to the couch, he opened it and read:

 _Professor Longbottom,_

 _My wife and I would kindly appreciate it if you would refrain from picking on our son. I know we had our difference back when we were at school but I don't think there is any need for you to take our your old frustrations on a child. If I hear that you have continued to treat Scorpius differently from the other students, I will be writing to the headmistress._

 _Draco Malfoy._

Neville stared at the letter, dumbstruck. Scorpius had gone running to his father after Neville had deducted house points from him? He couldn't believe it. What a little twerp! This just confirmed Neville's suspicions that the boy was exactly like his father. It was Draco's "My father will hear about this" rubbish all over again!

However, this time, Neville was the teacher and he was no longer afraid of his old school bully. Picking up a quill and parchment, Neville began to write a reply to Draco, but before he could get very far, Hannah walked in, saw the discarded letter on the table and snatched the quill away from her husband.

"What are you doing?" she asked, giving him a stern look.

"I'm writing back to Malfoy to ask him to kindly keep his nose out of my life and my teaching methods. If I believe Scorpius did something wrong, I am perfectly at liberty to punish him by deducting house points! I didn't even give him a detention!"

"That's true, dear, but don't you think there are better ways to handle this than writing an angry letter to Draco?" Hannah said, looking at Neville meaningfully. When Neville just looked at her blankly, she explained, "Like perhaps talking to the boy?"

"Oh, right," Neville said sheepishly. "I'll, uh, I'll do that then." Then, smiling at his wife, he added, "What would I do without you?" before taking her in a hug and kissing her.

"You would be fine! Except for, well, everything…" They both laughed as she kissed him back, the unfinished reply forgotten on the table.

The next morning, Neville had the first year Gryffindors and Slytherins for Herbology again. This time he made sure not to lose his temper at anyone, especially Scorpius, and as a reward for everyone handing in their homework on time, and for successfully re-potting their singing sunflowers, he assigned them no homework.

As the class was filing out of the greenhouse, Neville held Scorpius back and asked him to come to his office after his last class of the day. Looking at bit shocked, Scorpius nodded and then hurried out after his friends.

After setting his seventh years two feet on the properties of venomous tentacula leaves, Neville hurried up to his office to meet Scorpius. He only had to wait a couple of minutes before there was a small knock on the door.

"Come in," he called.

Scorpius entered the office looking very unsure.

"Please take a seat Mr. Malfoy. And help yourself to some Bertie Botts beans," Neville said, indicating the jar on the desk.

Scorpius hesitantly took a few beans and popped them into his mouth. His face instantly distorted and Neville guessed he had chosen something sour.

"I guess you are probably wondering why I summoned you here."

Scorpius nodded.

"Well, don't worry. You're not in trouble. I just wanted to have a chat," Neville told him.

Scorpius said nothing, just looked at his teacher, confused.

"I received a letter from your father last night," Neville said, receiving a guilty look from his student. "He seems to think I have been treating you unfairly. Do you have any idea what could have given him that impression?"

"Err, well…" Scorpius trailed off, both his face and voice tinged with guilt.

"You wrote to him?" Neville asked, his voice rising.

Scorpius nodded, looking at his feet.

"You know that as a teacher I can deduct house points when I believe students have done something wrong. So why write to your father as soon as I deduct them from you? Do you think I was unfair to do so?" Neville realised that he had almost screamed at the boy without even realising he had raised his voice. Merlin, it was going to hard to keep his temper in check around this kid!

Scorpius just stared at Neville, scared.

"I'm sorry, Scorpius, but, you see, I have a history with your father," Neville explained, his voice once again at a normal level. "I guess he told you that though."

Scorpius shook his head, which surprised Neville. Why wouldn't Malfoy have told his son? Neville thought for a moment, wondering what Malfoy was up to. Was Hannah right when she said he should remember Scorpius was different to his father? Was Draco just trying to exaggerate this difference by not telling Scorpius all his history?

Scorpius coughed, pulling Neville out of his thoughts. "What history?" he asked quietly.

Neville looked at the boy in front of him and saw what he hadn't seen before: while Scorpius' eyes were the same silver as his father's, they had definite flecks of blue close to the iris. This, Neville guessed, came from his mother. Maybe Hannah was right…

"I went to school with your father and –" How could he tell Scorpius that his father was a complete dragon without upsetting him? "We were not good friends." That was putting it lightly. "I thought he would have told you that, knowing I was going to be your teacher."

Scorpius looked puzzled. Probably wondering how anyone could not be friends with his flawless father, no doubt, thought Neville before he caught himself – he _had_ to stop thinking like that!

Before he could say anything else that could cause more problems, Neville dismissed the young Slytherin.

As he got to the door, Scorpius turned back to Neville. "I'm sorry I wrote to my dad, Sir. Everyone I've spoken to says you're a great teacher. I think you're a pretty cool teacher too, actually."

Neville smiled. Maybe he could like this boy after all. "It's ok, Scorpius. I think we have both, in our own way and time, been a bit, you might say, misunderstood."

Scorpius looked at his professor curiously, waiting for Neville to explain, but Neville just smiled sadly and when Scorpius realise nothing else was to be said, he opened the door and left the office.


End file.
